Picking up Rubber: Loophole or Policing Issue for the FIA? A 2024 Belgian GP Retrospective

Introduction

The 2024 Belgian GP delivered a thrilling race, the experience only enriched by a strategic masterstroke pulled off by Mercedes’ George Russell from the cockpit of his W15 to win the Grand Prix. For the more legally inclined, the Stewards, post-race, sifted through the Sporting and Technical Regulations to deliver a verdict that would see the British racing driver lose the third Grand Prix win of his career for an underweight car.

To give a brief background, the infringement, as found on car number 63, related to Article 4.1 of the Technical Regulations (‘TR’). Article 4.1 of the TR mandates that, “The mass of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 798kg, at all times during the Competition.” In Russell’s case, once the 2.8 litres of excess fuel remaining in his car after the session was drained, his W15 hit the scales at 796.5kg.

This piece of information was then relayed to the Stewards in accordance with Article 35.3 of the Sporting Regulations (‘SR’) which reads, “The relevant car may be disqualified should its weight be less than that specified in Article 4.1 of the Technical Regulations when weighed in accordance with Articles 35.1 or 35.2, save where the deficiency in weight results from the accidental loss of a component of the car.”

Naturally, as per the Regulations, the Stewards deemed Russell’s W15 being in violation of Article 4.1 of the TR and subsequently disqualified the Briton from the Grand Prix’s results.

In the aftermath of Russell’s disqualification, a discussion ensued as to the reasons for such a discrepancy in the weight. F1 Presenter, David Croft, Will Buxton and former Head of Strategy for Alfa Romeo Sauber, Ruth Buscombe were of the combined view that as Russell had chosen to stick to the unconventional one-stop strategy, he had in turn endured a higher rate of degradation on his tires. As a corollary, the loss of tread on Russell’s tires was greater than that of the others who had in fact adopted a two-stop strategy and had lesser worn tires at the end of the 44-lap race, meaning that Russell lost more weight compared to the others.

In addition to this, as per Point No.14 of the Race Director’s Event Notes for the Belgian GP, “After receiving the end of the race signal, all drivers must reduce their speed in a [safe] way and immediately after Turn 1 turn right and enter the pit exit to drive up the fast lane of the pit lane until they reach Parc Fermé.” What this essentially meant was that the drivers did not have the opportunity to embark on a customary ‘cool-down’ / ‘slow’ lap.

Noteworthily, the lack of a cool-down lap also deprived Russell (and the other drivers of course) of an opportunity to do something known as ‘Picking up Rubber’. In simple terms, picking up rubber refers to when drivers, after a race and during a single cool down lap, drive off line to pick up bits and pieces of discarded rubber onto their hot and sticky tires. This is an effective strategy to bring up the weight to the minimum mass as prescribed in Article 4.1 of the TR.

Therefore, it can be concluded that a suggested or effective counter-measure for Russell to save disqualification, under the Regulations, could have been picking up rubber – something he could not do at this particular event but something that is a common practice in Formula 1. This brings us to the core discussion of this article i.e., when tested against the touch stone of the Sporting Regulations, does the practice of picking up rubber still stand good?                 

Legality of ‘Picking up Rubber’ vis-à-vis the Sporting Regulations

Picking up rubber is a well-accepted and commonplace practice in F1. However, the discussion that ensued after Russell’s disqualification vis-à-vis the counter-measure of picking up rubber to save him from disqualification for an underweight car invites a proper look at this concept and urges us to evaluate it against the Sporting Regulations.

One need not venture too far from Article 35.3 to find an argument against picking up rubber. Article 35.4 mandates, in no uncertain terms, that “No substance may be added to, placed on, or removed from a car after it has been selected for weighing or has finished the sprint session or the race or during the weighing procedure. (Except by a scrutineer when acting in his official capacity)” [Emphasis Supplied]. A bare perusal of the afore-stated makes it evident that no substance can be added or placed on the car once the race has finished.

Therefore, the first exercise we must undertake is to ascertain what constitutes the definition of the word ‘substance’. Generally, there would be no quarrel with respect to the understanding that discarded rubber comes within the ambit of ‘substance’. However, by way of abundant caution, it would be prudent to intentionally delineate whether or not it is so. Neither the Sporting Regulations nor the Technical Regulations provide for a definition. Hence, I make reference to Black’s Law Dictionary for this limited purpose. As per the Black’s Law Dictionary, the word ‘substance’ means “the material or essential part of a thing, as distinguished from “form.” For the purposes of Article 35.4, the thing would be the car. As an extension, and because the minimum mass of the car is calculated taking into account the weight of the tires as well, the thing would also mean the tires. From a molecular perspective, rubber, discarded or not, is material to or an essential part of the composition or form of the tires, and hence, falls within the definition of ‘substance’ for the purposes of interpreting Article 35.4. Thereby, it can be concluded that as per Article 35.4, once the race has finished, rubber cannot be added to, placed on, or removed from a car.

The second aspect to be determined is whether the cool down lap is part of the race session or happens after the race session has finished. Article 59.1 of the SR states that “A chequered flag will be the end-of-session signal and will be shown at the Line as soon as the leading car has covered the full distance in accordance with Article 5.3.” [Emphasis Supplied]. Further, as per Article 59.3 “After receiving the end-of-session signal all cars must proceed on the circuit directly to the parc fermé…”. Therefore, the cool down lap commences post the end-of-session signal. In other words, the cool down lap is not part of the race session.

Assimilating the discussions made hereinabove, it can be construed that picking up of rubber during a cool-down lap is against the mandate of Article 35.4, which is rendered specifically in the context of weighing the cars in accordance with Article 4.1 of the TR. This brings us to the crux of this article. Picking up rubber is a commonplace practice in the sport, undertaken by all the teams and drivers regularly. However, the analysis rendered hereinabove would make it evident that the letter of the law makes it clear that picking up rubber is not allowed under the aegis of Article 35.4.  Be that as it may, it cannot be said that the teams are using a loop-hole in the Regulations to circumvent the eventual penalty of having an underweight car at the end of a Grand Prix. While the Regulations might not have a loop-hole, the apparatus that the FIA employs to govern and police weight regulation may have given the teams a free-hand or rather, a practical loop-hole to exploit, in terms of employing this practice.   

Before delving into the issue of policing, it is necessary to understand what is exactly endeavoured to be policed. A Formula 1 tire, when run in anger, degrades or disintegrates at the point of contact with the tarmac thus, losing tread. Per contra owing to the constant friction between the tarmac and the surface contact patch of the tire, heat is generated – which makes the rubber of the tire highly amenable to picking up bits and pieces of debris, marbles and discarded rubber, and subsuming it into the form of the tire. Therefore, the cycle of losing tread and weight and parallelly gaining debris, marbles, rubber and weight is a naturally occurring phenomenon. In the context of Article 35.4, what needs to be ensured is that no weight lost during the race owing to inter alia the above-mentioned naturally occurring phenomenon is wilfully and intentionally replenished, to whatever extent, once the race has ended.

A policing issue for the FIA

Now that we have ascertained what is to be policed, it is necessary to evaluate whether or not the same can be policed. As explained above, picking up rubber is consequential to the race car being run on the track with elements around to be picked up. However, the point of distinguishment comes from reading in the concept of intent, to regulate the operation of Article 35.4 inasmuch as that no pick up shall be orchestrated during the cool-down lap with the express intention of evading the penalty of being underweight. The aspect of intent can be clarified by acknowledging (a) the post facto analysis of Russell’s disqualification (Supra) and (b) the express instructions given to the drivers after the chequered flag to pick up rubber on the cool-down lap by their race engineers on countless previous occasions. However, what cannot be ascertained is the origin of the pick up. That is to say, once the car reaches parc fermé, there is virtually no way for the technical delegate to separate the pick up that has accumulated on the tire, let’s say, during the last lap of the Grand Prix from the pick up that was collected deliberately during the cool-down lap. Juxtaposing this with the offence of exceeding track limits, the FIA has enough tools in place (cameras, sensors etc.) that can ascertain the exact time, location and extent of the track limits violation. As a corollary, policing for track limits is undoubtedly more stringent. The same applies to the eventual weighing of the cars after the race. Once on the scales, the technical delegate knows, without an ounce of doubt, how much the car weighs (to the nearest decimal possible) as well as the extent of discrepancy with the minimum prescribed mass, if any. The same, as explained above, cannot be said for the pick up.        

Conclusion

In summation, George Russell’s disqualification from the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix and the discussion carried out supra brings us to a distinct conclusion that while picking up of rubber during the cool-down lap is not in line with the Sporting Regulations, the same is being practiced without consequence owing to a practical loop-hole that impedes policing of the same.

There is, however, a simple way of rectifying this lacuna. In essence, what gives rise to policing issues in terms of picking up rubber is what the FIA is trying to regulate through the Regulations. In other words, the Regulations, in their current state, aim at regulating the outcome of any actual or perceived act that may be in violation of the weight regulation. In the context of picking up rubber, Article 35.4 aims at regulating the outcome i.e., the addition, substitution and/or removal of rubber from the tires after the race has finished. The problem, however, as discussed above, in this case then becomes that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the outcome of the process during the race as opposed to the outcome after the race, thereby applying intent to deem such an outcome to be in violation of the Regulations.

Instead, the FIA must aim to regulate the very process that could then stand in violation, on scrutineering, of the Regulations for enabling a possible scenario / outcome where the spirit of the Regulations would be defeated. A simple illustrative hypothesis would make things quite clear;

A proviso could be added to Article 35.4 which clearly prohibits intentional picking up of rubber to bring the weight of the car up to the minimum prescribed mass after the race session has finished. What this would do is take the challenge of policing away from determining the quantum of the rubber picked up after the cool-down lap, which is impossible to ascertain, and transfer it upon the regulation of deliberate picking up of rubber, no matter the quantum, once the chequered flag has been waived.

With access to radio channels, telemetry, onboard cameras, helicopter cameras, and circuit cameras, the FIA would then be able to single out instances where it appears that drivers have been deliberately driving off the line to pick up rubber during the cool-down lap, on their own volition or on the request of the team. Intention could then be read into by investigating these instances to ascertain whether it falls foul of the spirit of the Regulations or not.